Those watching from the walled settlement, gasped in horror as even the ships fell, simply turning off and descending at an expitentious speed into the ground below, thousands of metal soldiers had simply just died, croaked, their eyes lighting up with a brighter red for a moment before they fell, their grips went limp dropping their weapons and legs buckled, letting the steel creatures plummet into the sand. Every single one of their combatants was dead, and nothing but the burning sound of crashed ships, a trove of decapitated metal corpses, untouched bodies and eerie silence was left to mark their fate.
John gaped in awe at what he had just seen as the robot about to attempt to plunge a bayonet into his chest tumbled over with empty eyes. The unknown ally he was with too stepped back and climbed over the skeletons of the tens of hundreds which he had slain. Casting out a masked glance through the landscape. Those at the wall of Ionus-Maor began to cheer and scream out in joy and disbelief, jumping up and down with contentment.
The white armoured soldier saw this and raised their rifle, it was about to open fire when John grabbed the gun and pulled it down.
“Stop, they mean us no harm, they are friends”
It grunted in disbelief but lowered its arms before turning to John.
“Mr. Taylor, it seems, at last, I have found you, you are a hard man to track, hold still please, this won’t hurt a bit but it will sting”
It whacked the gun out of John’s blistered palm and pulled out a large cylindrical needle-type device, it was about to plunge it into John’s skull with a maniacal thrust of power when a large boom echoed through the sky. Something was coming, something was fleeting from the clouds. John sprayed a hand forward and pushed back against the might of his attacker.
Using the approaching ship as a distraction he fired three times into the creature's wounded side then he fled hearing it roar in agonizing pain. sprinting off to take cover behind a shattered landspeeder.
The vessel which had just spawned from the vapour above was another monolithic craft of beauty, however this time it was different, it brought tears to the eyes of every onlooker and John himself, it was bronze-coloured, carved, and shimmering with glory. It had powerful guns strapped to the sides and a fantastic green view plate on the front. The ship landed a few meters away from their position, but unlike the loud, energy-consuming warships that existed at that time, the craft simply landed without a sound, an eerie sight for a great technological question.
John was still hiding behind the land vehicle, he had draped the corpse of a drone scout over his body to hide from the creature in white.
The bronze ship then opened its center hatch and a swirl of steam and vapours swept out, blanketing the ground in fog, the creature which John had stunned, the sent, was no longer quivering in pain, it simply stood its ground, rifle pointed at the entrance and eyes imperviously looking at the opening. As the mist slowly cleared a robotic foot could be seen to clamper down the stairs, it was truly stunning, for some reason the sent did not open fire, it recognized the ship's make and design, simply unsure of who might ride it.
The being which descended down the rampart was a robot, but one which merited fables of legend. The metallic man was clad in armour so intricate, so elegant, so sophisticated, it made John gasp, and cry out in shock almost revealing his position. It was beautifully radiating in the desert sun.
The eyes were a beautiful shimmering shade of blue, its armour a mix of gold black and grey, it was built six to seven feet tall and its posture gave off an aroma of confidence. It was so beautiful even the sent shook its head in disbelief.
“Where is he?” it cried out, its voice sounding horrifically lifelike, as almost if it was truly sentient.
“Do you mean John? who is asking?” the sent countered.
“I am Kalos, loyal servant of the greatest empire to ever bless these lands, who are you?” Kalos asked.
The sent stepped back for a moment and lowered its gun partway.
“I recognized that ship, it was an ancient design of my master’s people, I almost thought one of my kin from ages past had landed to aid me in my quest, a Kalos unit? Is that true?”
The Robot stood, no hint of emotion dominating it’s eyes.
“Of course”
The Sent stood tall, smiling at this answer.
“Then you are, Fabled in legends from the time before time, you honour me with your presence, but if your quarrel with John is as I devised, I shall have to kill you, unless of course you are unlike the rest of the remnants of your society and see the true master in his divine light”
The Robot stepped forward, feeting clanging on the discarded metal bodies.
“If you speak of Captain Doctor Julius Qlman of Kalos Space Core, given medal of honour, peace prize, the scuniam star, born three hundred years after I, then no”
The sent looked puzzled, unsure of what to make of the name that had just been spoken to him, unaware it was the true identity of his master.
“Our master told us of the Kalos Empire, you bear the name of a fanatical people, they were intelligent, but were unable to see the truth, they refused to bow down to the one true lord, grew jealous of his power, attacked him and paid the price” the sent said, his voice laced with a rich deep undertone.
“Attacked him? Attacked him? He slaughtered trillions, massacred them without a single word of diplomacy, don't spout your lies to me, for your mind is addled by the propaganda and control of a god who does not deserve his rein” Kalos shouted, bellowing with anger.
“Where is John Taylor?” Kalos screeched.
“He is behind the landspeeder over there, he has nowhere to go, nowhere to hide, please, let us resume our business another time perhaps in an hour, these barbarians I was fighting are all but vanquished thanks to your hack and I see none coming as they are distracted by the revolution in their capital, I have always wanted to meet a Kalos unit, we are not permitted to have robots on the homeworld, as a child I was fascinated by your history, by our history I should say” The sent retorted.
John let out a small yelp as he overheard the conversation. He was about to get up and run when he realized it wouldn’t make a difference and instead just stayed crouched, his mind kept on soaking up the talk of these two majestic beings.
Kalos was about to rush to John’s position when the sent raised his rifle and caused Kalos to raise his own, they both understood a single shot from each of the guns would merit them lifeless.
“So tell me young one, what are your intentions for Mr. Taylor in the name of the almighty lord?” Kalos snickered.
“You should see our homeworld, robot, see the beautiful landscape, the stretched-out pastures, the cities of magnificent beauty, glistening towers, our grand empire, over three hundred thousand solar systems-wide, blankets its people in wealth. It surpasses your empire tenfold and it is truly, the pinnacle of civilization, of power of love, of amazement. We shaped every acre, terraformed to our needs and the planets to provide endless plunder, no one goes hungry, no one dies, we are never worried, no existential threats plague our people.
We live in heaven, dwelling in cities and towns constructed by the gods, we are all immortal, our lives perfect, our people content, and our leader, our God, he endures this, it is he who makes it so none can die, he who protects us from the outside, he who levelled the ground and built the foundations, he who makes our yields plentiful and our weather incomparable.
After he cleaned out the heretics who were his kin, your people. We thrived, we may have been inhibited by the star-crushers you placed to vaporize him of his strength but we were able to make something truly great. However, as amazing my empire is, as unbreakable our faith, our master grows weak with the disease your incandescent and incoherent people used to dwindle his potent resolve. He is dying, and so are our people, for the first time in recorded history when you pray to god, he does not answer, for the first time our people are not being reborn when they die as our master once did, our crops are ruining with the disease, for the first time the nights grow cold and dark, the children no longer laugh and play in the streets, our god's power, our protector’s power is failing. Murder, evil, desire, terror, fear, run rampant upon our people. Without his divine guidance, we run amock, atrocities returning to haunt our very lives.
I have been sent to harvest the cure, obtain c-52 material. Our master said that one of twenty locations across the galaxy would contain someone like Taylor, someone who had the gene, and with just a single prick of a needle, we can harvest his brain leaving Taylor unharmed. The ship's computer identified him the moment I entered the system. Time is running out! Every second grows weak, the odds of another of his kind are so slim, if I do not harvest and make the journey now, our god may die.
Our greatest warriors, most valiant soldiers were sent and I can bring that back to my master, he can fashion a cure and I can stop the pain. I can stop the anguish of a thousand words. Allow both the expansion and saviour of our great empire and your star-crushers will no longer work, he will be able to reach his full power, stand up to his full might and expand our great society to conquer the entire galaxy, more than the galaxy, the entire universe. We can make every planet heaven, rid it of evil, hunger, crime, pain, and fill it with naught happiness and wonder.” it said, its mouth spouting out the charisma-filled words.
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Kalos stood scoffing at his enemy.
“Have you ever seen a biological member of the Kalos alive? Have you ever seen a creature that does not look like you in your visage of an empire? Besides your god. Tell me do you think all of the Kalos would have seen heresy as their only option, he didn’t give them a choice, he knew they would evolve so he committed genocide, he committed genocide on his own race.
He massacred them, and he killed every single other species he came across, wiped out their people, their culture, harvested the world and terraformed it for you, you his own people, not fashioned by chance or the universe but by himself, and he did a bad job of it aswell, notice how your brains are missing something? a large portion is simply gone, he killed every being and created his own species, he created his own species with an inability to evolve, a kind without the maze.
Tell me? In this heaven what happens if you think against your leader, what happens if you have a single thought that is against his wishes?, do not tell me none have thought of the fruits of democracy of a world in their own control.”
“Pah, democracy, do not speak to me of the thoughts of mindless children, democracy never works and it would pale in the brilliance of his mind. The reason why he created us is to be superior, to engineer a perfect race, a master-race to inhabit his lands”
“But why? why? So he would have subjects on which to rule? Why would he create you and bring you into a world of torment for no reason at all? His own ego, to see small creatures frolick or squabble over his existence, to feel power? To fulfill his own fantasy?” Kalos shouted.
“Do not trouble me, your mind is morphed, perhaps without the code sent to you by the dying race you could have seen light, seen the peace, security and justice we could have brought to the galaxy, through wiping out all known life and rebuilding maybe, but I do not speak for my master, I am one of twenty and twenty of ten thousand billion. I will bring you home when we are done, repair this inconsistency, then you will find peace”
We are strong, so what are your intentions for John? Kill him ? let all of that power, all of that potential go to waste?” the sent spouted.
“Yes, as a matter of fact, I will, his death will ensure no more gods plague our people and the natural course of evolution can take place, ” Kalos countered.
“John is a creature like you and me, but he is for himself, he will not go with you" the sent snickered.
“What happens now? I kill you? Kill John and wait a week for your master's death by our hand?, ironic that our people should have the last laugh” Kalos mocked
“I wouldn’t be so sure, John does not have to die in order for me to succeed, I believe he will employ my method to a better purpose.” the sent cried.
John stood up and revealed himself to them both, the two then spun around at insatiable speeds and stared directly into his heart.
“I do not wish to die, but I also do not wish to condemn my race to defeat” he spoke, his voice quavering with uncertainty.
The moment Kalos saw John he raised his rifle and pointed it at his head, he was about to pull the trigger when the sent, tackled him and engaged in hand-to-hand combat. It was a terrifyingly beautiful sight, the clash of two civilizations, the fate of the universe resting upon the shoulders of its victor, yet the two seemed to be a perfect match, every blow blocked, every slice dodged, their arms moved at such a speed it was hard to even comprehend.
It almost looked as if the two were fighting each other at supersonic speed, neither had laid a single blow, simply danced a limbo of moves, each one parrying and deflecting each other, each one showing off a tactical, cunning brilliant mind, that marvelled the minds of all who watched.
Both of their rifles had been tossed to the ground, and the sent’s gun had been snapped in half by Kalos, Kalos’s own rifle had merged into his arm, a form of controllable extension. Pressing a button on his arm while holding back a punch from his enemy, Kalos engaged the ship’s guns and had them pepper spray the area near the sent’s feet, a risky move given their close proximity.
However the sent was fast, it jumped three feet in the air and tossed an emp grenade in the ship’s hull, Kalos sensed the danger the blast could deal with him and quickly shielded himself with a ray from his belt, the blast however rendered his ship useless. Then the two ran at each other and continued to fight, knowing they were of an equal match and the battle could last hours if not days, each one called to John the onlooker.
“Help me, kill him, he wants to kill you, I can let you live” the sent cried narrowly missing a blow to the head by an uppercut from Kalos.
“Think of the repercussions John, you kill me, you kill all of the universes, you let it fall under the creature’s reign, and he will kill you then, he will kill every last one of us” Kalos roared dodging a swipe from the sent’s knife.
“Think John Think” it cried.
John knew he had to do something, he couldn’t just stand idly by and watch as his fate was determined by the victor, as the two of him engaged in a duel of fates. Around him, the guns of the collective were littered about cascaded across the battlefield. Yet entire arsenal was rendered useless by the hack. His own pistol would work but it was long gone.
Buried under the mess of shrapnel and mud which blanketed the battlefield. He only had one weapon left to use, the vial, the orange mysterious vial of drugs used by Zin to torture Ellis by submitting him to the maze. He watched the two fight as they called out obscurities and false claims, he agreed with Kalos, but he didn’t want to die, he did not want to perish in the flames of sacrifice. Pulling out the needle he carried in his vest pouch he infused the fluid into the vial and with swift movement plunged it deep into the flesh of his neck. Within three seconds the medication took effect. Taylor collapsed sinking into the mirky ground.
Now a flailing mess on the ground he twitched and jerked about the dead robotic bodies. The two immortals were still in peril, Kalso had pulled out a pistol and was firing it, the sent knocked it out of his hand, Kalos pulled out another, the sent whacked it from his grasp. At last, Kalos was cornered, his back to a crashed ship with a series of metal rods protruding from its corroded hull. Unaware of his surroundings, he did one final great blow. Fashioning a vast glimmering sword from his bleeding limb he swung upward and chopped through the sent’s own energy blade tearing through its once durable armour and knocking off the beast's helmet.
Underneath was a sight that would truly horrify John to the ends of his days, if he was there to bear witness to the atrocity.
It was human, but not nearly humanoid, its facial features were undefined and smooth, it had no hair, and beady black eyes, it almost looked like a failed attempt at copying creation, able to replicate the insides but not the beauty of life. A child’s drawing of the beauty of existence.
The sent hissed.
“I am the sent, high scribe of our great lord, you can not defeat me!”
Kalos was about to move in for the final blow when the robot cast an unedifying glance at John and saw the quivering mess on the ground.
“LOOK YOU FOOL, LOOK HE HAS DEFIED US BOTH” the robot sneered.
Yet as he shouted, screeched with all his might, the sent did not fully comprehend and acted too hastily, kicked back the robot with all its might and sent him flying into the rubble behind. Kalos was hit, a large rod sticking out of his chest, he was stuck, hanging from the stones and paralyzed from the waist down, a small robot protruded from his side and started repairs but it would not nearly be fast enough, time was of the essence.
“Nooooooooooo” the metal man cried, his voice springing with emotion.
The sent smiled at his triumphant victory, but then cast an eye upon John’s body, he grimaced and looked back at the robot. Exhaling slowly it began to speak.
“I am sorry, this was dishonourable, I did not know it would be a false victory, any other time I would have waited for you to repair, but I am sorry, this matter is too great for the principles of a single man” it snarled its beady eyes shifting back and forth between the robot and the man.
Hobbling over and bleeding profusely from its wounds, the Sent approached John. Jumping down to his level from the corpse of a giant t-451 enforcer he slowly unravelled the brain harvesting device and took a final look, at both the robot and John.
“You had a good fight, but I must harvest him quickly or I risk him finishing the maze, I will leave him alive, I will enjoy his feeble mind seeing how our mighty destroyers ransack these mud-filled worlds' ' it said looking at Kalos.
“TO HELL WITH YOU” Kalos roared, still paralyzed.
“Yes, yes, of course” the sent responded waving its gloved hand through the air.
Then with one immense moment, it raised its hand and was about to plunge the needle deep into John’s skull when John rolled over and grabbed his hand. Taylor’s eyes were bright yellow, with no pupil, but the flailing had stopped, he had left the maze without leaving its confines, he was both in the maze and outside of it.
Then John did the unexpected he fought the sent, facing off against an opponent which was omnipotent at every type of combat known to ever grace the universe. He danced in a horrific demonic fight that lasted thirty minutes, the two at complete and utter mortality with each other. They blocked, parried, dodged, fled back and rushed forward, the sent would have surely killed John within seconds however Kalos’s attack had severely wounded him. Blood gushed from a deep cut that ran across his entire body from his leg to his face.
John’s adventure into the depths of the maze had also aided him as his entire mind was now focused on one thing, exploiting the knowledge that had been given. The raw power of the transformation bled into his strength and was beginning to morph him into a maniacal monster of omnipotence. He was using his power to his full potential it was extraordinary, it was phenomenal. Their hands moved faster than the mind could understand, their attacks beautifully executed and with precision. At last, the sent began to gain the upper hand but it didn’t understand John was winning, he was beating the maze, at the exact same time as fighting for his life he was doing the impossible he was evolving he was becoming a god. At last, Kalos then pulled himself from the pole, his senses regaining, but he was crawling, his legs not yet functioning.
The sent was about to land a lethal blow on John when suddenly a sharp pop echoed from the outside. Blood splattered from the sent’s uncovered pale skin as it crumpled to the ground, its side had been shot clean through. A pool of purple liquid was now streaming from the wound as the sent howled and shrieked in agony. It let out a bone-chilling scream which echoed for miles as it finally sunk to the ground, vanquished. Unaware of where the shot had come from, John bent down towards the sent’s level and grabbed the creature's neck, sticking his hand into its wound and twisting it to make the creature squirm.
John then retorted with his own grimace and smiled evilly, his eyes lit up yellow and glowing leaving off a sinister aurora. The sent then with the last of its strength jumped up, needle in hand it made one final desperate attempt at revenge.
Suddenly a blast from behind pierced the creature's unshielded head and blood splattered everywhere. A clean shot that went directly through its brain. The sent stood straight for a moment, its hand withering and flailing in the wind. Then the beast crumbled again. Its armour plastered in its own paste-like blood. This time plummeting into the abyss for all eternity. It was Kalos, the robot had made a long arborous trek, dragging itself through the wastes to seal it's mortal enemy's fate forever.
“Your eyes, do you intend to finish the maze?” it asked a gun pointed at John's head.
“No,” John replied.
He then threw up, an orange liquid violently expelling from his eyes, mouth and ears. Blood from the sent still stained his hands, and he doubted no matter how many times it was washed it would stay with him forever.
“Good” Kalos replied